If your local is noted for its argumentative clientele,disputes sometimes settled by that 'Olde English' tradition of the car park punch-up then why not do as one pub near us did change its name from 'The G*****n' to 'The War Office'

Reminds me of a dear aunt who had lodgings in a delightful pub in a little village in Wiltshire. She loved to hear of my adventures on foreign postings and to be kept abreast of all the queer goings on up the Khyber Many was the time our regimental postman would break into an inexplicable grun when I handed him yet another field postcard addressed to:

Lots of pubs owned by the Greene King brewery in England are being renamed "the Greene King" - at least, that's how it looks. The brewery has started replacing the old pictorial signs (usually depicting the pub name) with a sign just showing the brewery logo. This has been causing a bit of friction with the locals - in one village, I gather they were able to get the brewery to restore the old sign.

As for pub names, I regret the trend in recent years to replace old pub names, which usually have some sort of local historical significance, with "trendy" new names, usually designed to attract yuppies or young "binge drinkers" (well, they're the ones with the disposable income, apparently). Although old buildings are protected against alteration by law, it seems old names are not :(

There is a pub in Uxbridge which was renamed 'The Ostler', it was previously called 'The White Horse'. A spokesperson for the brewery explained that the change of name was to better reflect the range of services on offer.

I would have loved to have walked into the bar leading a horse just to see if the 'services' reflected the name.

I also used to attend a watering hole called 'The Stag & Pheasant' which was better known locally as 'The Staggering Peasant'.

Ah, the Ram Jam Inn - that beacon of civilisation on the Great North Road. A place that puts all your hideous Welcoime Breaks and tacky Moto stations to shame. I go misty-eyed at the thought of the place...

A pub in Liverpool used to be called "One Flew Over the Throstle's Nest". Clearly, the landlord and his mates (or the brewery?) didn't know what a throstle is (a mistle thrush, I believe) as the sign was merely a question mark. More recently the name has changed to merely "The Throstle's Nest" but there's still no picture.

Houston has the Mucky Duck (which is the official name, not a nickname) instead of the Dirty Duck, but the mascot is still a black swan. It's carved wood and sits on a shelf over the bar. It used to sit by the cash register but some idiot tried to steal it. While the bar guy was processing his tab, the dude grabbed the swan and ran out the back door. Fortunately, he had paid by credit card so the pub had all his information and the swan was recovered in short order. Don't you love stupid/intoxicated criminals?

Talking of stupid/intoxicated criminals A policeman frind ofmine was called to a break-in at a out of town pub. The miscreant had hidden in the adjacent field until the pub closed. Nature stepped in at this point and he needed a bowel movement. The only paper he had to wipe with was the addressed envelope that his Giro had been in. Yep! they got him.

There is a pub along Parramatta Road Sydney named the "Wentworth". However, it is located where the sheep and cattle saleyards once operated and it was then known affectionately as the " Sheep Shit Inn" . Aaah , Halcyon Days indeed .

Recently I set a sat nav to shortest route rather than quickest and as a result I've been travelling all sort of odd routes,anyway somewhere near Wakefield (West Yorks) I spotted a pub name "Hail to Mopsy". Any Wezzies know the story behind this name?

A pub in Weymouth, Dorset, was refurbished and, being on the harbour was renamed 'The Oar House'. Cynthia Payne was booked to open it but someone on the council decided this might not be the sort of thing a family resort like Weymouth should do...

In Sydney the Rose, Shamrock & Thistle has, for years been known as The Three Weeds. In Melbourne there is (was?) a pub named the Grace Darling, after a famous rescue. But it's always called the Grey Starling.

Actually, if you ask my Dad for directions, be prepared to remember many pub names rather than roads. It's just how they used to navigate....

Favourite pub names? Anchor and Hope - Clapton (just 'cos it's contrary to the usual Hope & Anchor) The Cheshire Cheese (Fleet Street) The First In Last Out (FILO) The Ring - Southwark (which was called such because of the boxing matches that used to go on in the back, but some opera nut re-did the sign as a gold ring with a bloke with an eye patch in the background....) The Pond - Brighton.

An awful lot of years ago, the Kiwis and the Aussies back packing through London, nicknamed a pub in Tufnell park The Church, so they could honestly tell their parents that they went every Sunday.....

A lot of pubs have two names, the 'official' name that's on the licence and sometimes on the sign outside, and the colloquial. I used to go to a pub near the assizes in Norwich which everyone knew as The Murderers, but I have no idea what its 'real' name was. Another was the pub under the old Daily Mirror building off Holborn Circus where many of the hacks would go to drink and grumble. Officially 'The White Hart', everyone knew it as 'The Stab'; as in 'the stab in the back'. My local is called 'The Ramp' - no idea why, because the real name is (I think) 'The Miners' Corruptions of existing names seem to occur all over the English speaking world, from the Mucky Duck and Brass Cat already mentioned to numerous others. I used to frequent a folk club held at 'The Lady of the Lake', which was known locally as 'The Bitch in the Ditch'

Pubs in Beverley have tend to have 2 names. The one with the rocking horse over the door (real but no rockers) called The White Horse is known to all as Nellies after a long gone publican. Mills & Sowerby was always known as Push (well, thats what it said on the door). Its now officially called The Push.

- there was (is?) a pub in the centre of Stevenage New Town, Herts, called the "Edward the Confessor", known to locals as "Ted the Grass".

- a pub in Cambs (I forget the nearest village), "The Downing Arms" featured a poorly painted sign showing the aforesaid family's coat of arms, a lion rampant on a shield. The locals called it the "Scratching Cat" (sadly the pub has long been closed and is now a private house, like so many country pubs in England).

Talking of intoxicated animals, mucky ducks etc., there's a pub in Barngates near Ambleside "The Drunken Duck", apparently so named after a duck consumed some of the Barngates brewery's ale - the pub and its ales come with a personal high recommendation from me, incidentally :-)

ThreeSheds: I think the pub you saw will have been the "Hark to Mopsey" in Normanton, just NE of Wakefield. The sign shows a picture of a hunt in progress, so I would imagine that Mopsey was a particularly famous hound.

We have a "First in, last out" here in Whitby, that is its official name rather than a nickname.

I rather liked the pub in Tarrington [Herefordshire] which was called the "Glass Pig". Last time I passed I noticed it had reverted to its earlier name of the Tarrington Arms, more traditional I suppose, but somehow less fun.

Another pub I used to frequent was called the 'Horse and Panniers'nicknamed by the locals as 'Whores and Fannies'. Looking back, I seem to have spent a lot of time in pubs many with odd nicknames!!

Irthlingborough (Northants) has the 'Sow & Pigs'. One side of the sign shows a sow with piglets and the other an old method of making cast iron ingots with a main channel (sow) and side channels (pigs), a reference to former local ironworks.

Like Lady Penelope, my father always navigated by pub names. He was a fireman in Essex and the best landmarks, especially at night were the pubs. Where the roads had no names you could say "left at The Royal Oak", then past the Green Man" etc. When Harlow New Town was built all the new pubs were named after butterflies and the signs depicted the butterfly on one side, i.e. The Scarlet Admiral and a suitable picture on the other. The fact that most of the pubs were dreadful to drink in was beside the point.

Further to the Church mentioned by Lady Penelope. The Church took place every sunday in Bagley's club at Kings Cross - I live on a narrowboat there and it was murder! Every Sunday we had a self imposed curfew from 11am until 1pm and 4pm until c6pm. I know the majority of the users were just being friendly - I found out my nephew had been a visitor when he was in the army; but there was a nasty minority who used to urinate in the gate of the mooring, throw things from the bridge above the canal - once it was a two litre bottle of water, another time I found a half bottle of gin (I think). They shouted abuse and really rude remarks, I also once saw a girl providing sexual relief to her boyfriend (?) on the Bridge on York Road. Eventually the club was moved to the Forum in Kentish Town. I am not averse to drinking and a bit of malarkey - I am know to partake every now and then but it used to be an absolute nightmare!

We have 3 pubs called "The Case is Altered" within a few miles of each other - Old Redding, Wealdstone and Eastcote (the latter being where the Herga Mummers start their Boxing Day tour). I don't know of any further afield.

Kitty, you got that just ahead of me - I only know the Eastcote one, though. And in North Oxford, Tolkien's favourite pub is commonly known as "The Bird and Bastard" (Eagle and Child). Indeed, the first time I went out with 'er indoors, we sat on the bench with his commemorative plaque...